Misconceptions
by BlackEyedGirl
Summary: I’m laid back, fairly tolerant… In fact, I’d say I’m exceptionally open minded. So why, why, did my daughter think I wouldn’t want to know about all this.' For the coming out challenge on marshallscience.


**Title:** Misconceptions  
**Fandom:** Eureka  
**Pairing:** Jack/Nathan  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Genre:** Fluff  
**Length:** 1,800 words  
**Disclaimer:** All belongs to the Sci-Fi channel and people not me.  
**Warnings/Spoilers:** Some spoilers for mid-S2, but nothing too specific.  
**AN: **Written for the coming out challenge on Livejournal's Jack/Nathan community

* * *

The table looked as though a robot had exploded on it, and his daughter was the one with the screwdriver and ominous expression. "Zoe?"

Her face cleared, and she pulled a piece of glass from the mechanical wreckage. "Yeah?"

"Care to explain?"

"What?"

Jack gestured at the robot entrails and empty toolkit.

"Oh," she said. "I'm making rainbows."

He couldn't help it - he looked up to check for clouds. Thankfully, the ceiling was free of indoor weather. Jack's gaze slipped down the walls, and found the shimmering coloured light. He tracked it back to Zoe's glass.

"Rainbows."

"Yes."

"For class?"

"Extra credit. We're decorating for the party."

"Did I miss a memo?"

"Sorry?"

He rolled his hand in the air. "Party…?"

"Dad," Zoe answered, evidence of disappointment in her voice. Now if only she would explain why, he would be a happy man. She continued, "Gay Pride, Dad, geez. The Portland one's all over the local news."

"Oh, sure, sorry it must just have slipped… No, wait, you didn't tell me. And neither did anyone else, because I remember the things I need to later avoid."

She pointed a finger at him dramatically. "See? This is why no one tells you stuff like this. Seriously, Dad, just because you've spent all your adult life in a homophobic-"

"Zoe."

"-bigoted-"

"Zoe!"

"-don't ask, don't tell-"

"Is for the _army_, and again-"

"doesn't mean that the rest of us can't-"

"And that isn't what I was saying-"

"-but I kinda thought maybe you'd gotten a _little_ more open-minded since we moved here! I can't believe you!"

She scooped up her project, and stomped upstairs.

"I just didn't want to be roped into the decorating committee," Jack said weakly.

* * *

Henry was at the top of a ladder, hanging bunting. He looked down at Jack and waved.

"Henry," Jack called.

"You okay, Jack?"

"I'm a pretty reasonable guy, right?"

"Of course."

"I'm laid-back, fairly tolerant… In fact, I'd say I'm exceptionally open-minded."

"If you weren't, you wouldn't last very long in this town," Henry laughed.

Jack frowned, and waved his arm in supplication. "So why, why, did my daughter think I wouldn't want to know about all this?"

"All…"

Jack indicated the flags, the table decorations, and the rising sound system.

"Ah," was the only reply Henry gave.

"Henry!"

Henry climbed down the ladder until he was only a few feet above Jack. He braced himself there, and thought about what to say. "Jack. You're… well, you'd be identified as an alpha male by anyone's definition of the term. You're a leader, you enforce the law, physically you're…"

"And?"

"People – unfairly, I know – draw certain conclusions from that. Conclusions that may or may not be played out but which are, nevertheless, part of the popular perception. And, a lot of the time, supported by some crude biological trends."

There was a long list of things wrong with that explanation. Luckily for both Henry and Jack, GD called for the Sheriff before he could say anything.

* * *

Crisis averted, Jack looked for a second opinion.

He found Allison in the big glass office. She smiled at him when he came in, and held up a hand for him to wait. She tapped the desk-screen rapidly. "Just one moment… Okay, what's up?"

"Do you think I'm a bigot?"

"No, Carter, of course not," she answered, shocked. "Why would you ask?"

"Zoe was… It's this Gay Pride thing…"

Before he had even finished the sentence, Allison wrinkled her nose and said, "Oh."

"What?"

"Jack, with your job, people have a tendency to… And then with…" She looked him up and down.

This was nuts. "What is it about you people and my job? US Marshal, not a marine! Marshals have a principle of non-discrimination in employment, _including_ sexual orientation… No partnership benefits, but that's…"

"Nobody's saying you're a bigot, Jack," Allison said, her voice all calm reason.

"No. You're just thinking it." Jack left, heading for the elevator.

* * *

"Sheriff?" Fargo asked, looking up from his tablet notebook.

"Hey, Fargo." Jack sat down on the edge of the desk and tried to look casual. Fargo was easily spooked. He considered for a moment. "Do I look like a homophobe to you?"

"What?! Were you talking to Beverley?! Because I don't know what she told you, but I like girls, remember? My," he lowered his voice, "_Jo_, thing?"

Jack hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise. He looked at Fargo, and rubbed his head. "You know what - never mind."

* * *

The kids had outdone themselves. It was a warm summer evening, and the street was lit in sparkling colour that dashed and swirled about the air. It was nothing like LA; more like a festival and an intimate party all at once. There were _somethings_ attached to the lamp-posts that suggested Henry had been doing pyrotechnical things up there earlier. And it seemed as though most of the town was there, dancing and laughing.

The first person Jack saw was Vincent. Putting down a tray of food, Vincent beamed at Jack. "Sheriff! What can I get for you?"

Vincent looked at Jack more closely, and stopped dead.

Jack looked down at himself. Nice pants, blue shirt, no uniform… Ah. It was probably the bright purple triangle pinned on his chest. Given that most of the population were wearing rainbows or triangles, it really shouldn't be a big deal.

And yet: "Sheriff," Vincent said again. "_Thank you_! You're being an ally and a friend! And in your line of work…"

The next person who said that was really going to regret it. "Well, yeah, Vince, but I guess I'm not really…" He looked down, and rubbed the back of his neck for a moment. "Not really being completely altruistic here. I mean, I kind of have a vested interest. Have had. Not, you know, recently, but yeah. More than occasionally."

Well that was awkward. Vincent – and for once, God bless geniuses – had translated that into something more articulate. He put a big hand on Jack's shoulder and smiled even wider. It was nice, even if Jack knew that pretty soon, without any logical progression, everyone in town would know. Open-minded small town holding a Gay Pride street party was still a _small town. _

Jack turned around, and nearly knocked Nathan Stark to the ground. Nathan seemed to have rejected the palette of coloured shirts in his wardrobe for an all-black look. It was a little evil-genuisy, but it worked for him.

He nodded. "Stark."

Nathan nodded back, and hurried past him. That wasn't good.

Even less good: a blonde seventeen year-old coming up fast.

Zoe punched him in the arm. "Why would you not tell me something like this?"

He put both hands on her shoulders, and looked her in the eye. "Sweetheart, I never cheated on your mother, okay? Just because someone…"

She cut in, "I know _that. _But there's this whole… Why didn't you tell me?! And after all the stuff I said at home this morning…"

Jack shrugged. "You were in the middle of a good rant. Who was I to stop it with reality?" He leant his forehead against hers. "We're okay?"

"Not about the secrets thing. But about everything else, we're cool."

"Cool. Then go dance. Your friends are waving at you."

She hugged him, fleetingly, and disappeared back into the crowd. Jack leant against the wall and watched. When he saw Zoe again, she was being spun about the street by Jo. It was harmless - everyone was doing it. Or, at least, he hoped it was harmless. If everyone here dancing was intending on following through with a relationship, town was going to be a scary place for a while. Not least because Taggart's dancing was going to get Vincent (or anyone in the surrounding crowd) killed. And as for Allison and Beverly – it was beautiful, but in the way that deadly predators were beautiful, just before they tore your throat out.

Someone came to stand beside Jack. "Stark," Jack said, not looking around.

This time, Nathan responded. "Jack."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Okay."

"So, Sheriff. Not a Kinsey zero after all."

"Nope. More like a one and a half. Round about."

"Really."

"And didn't you guys decide Kinsey's methods were bad? Skewed sampling, or bad interview techniques or something?"

"Yes. Still, he laid the groundwork. What he did was important." Nathan inclined his head to one of the banners recognising the LGBT contribution to scientific development.

"Hey," Jack said, "there's your guy."

"I'm sorry?"

Jack pointed. "Turing, right?"

Nathan looked at him properly. "Yes. Not that he's 'my guy' but yes that's him. And yes I've read his work. I'm surprised you know who he is."

"Hey. I listen when you talk. I might not _understand_ most of it, but I listen."

They stood in silence for a while, watching the dance. When the first of the fireworks exploded, the crowd turned to watch, but the music kept playing.

Nathan didn't move away. "I'm more like a two."

Jack blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"I thought you said you listened. Never mind. Dance with me."

It wasn't really a question, and Jack wasn't really going to refuse, but he made a token protest at Nathan dragging him into the street. They were behind the rest of the crowd, and no one was looking their way. Jack shook his head. "You're just like Allison."

Nathan stopped, and tilted his head the way he always did around Jack; some mixture of wondering what stupid thing he was going to say next, and waiting to be entertained.

They swayed from side to side. "You won't let anyone else lead," Jack explained.

Nathan adjusted their arms, and leant his head in close enough that his beard scratched Jack's neck. "Feel free to start any time."

It was too much like an offer for any red-blooded male to sensibly refuse. Jack turned his head just a little bit further, and stepped in and sideways, dragging Nathan with him. Nathan let him. Jack dragged his mouth across the line of hair that separated cheeks from lips. As they kissed, the fireworks went off, like it was a movie. Nathan laughed; it opened his mouth to let Jack slip his tongue inside, to touch Nathan's tongue and his teeth and the roof of his mouth. They broke apart just as the last firework burst in the sky, and the people applauded the display and turned around.

Nathan ignored them and, after one breathless moment of hysteria, so did Jack. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a few shocked expressions, a few monumentally unsurprised ones, but the vast majority of people just grinned and went back to dancing.

Touching his lips to Jack's again, Nathan muttered, "So. It appears you _have_ done that before."

"Told ya so."

* * *

FIN. Feedback is lovely. 


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